30. Demise of Grandmother Wong Sui Cheng

On October 28, 1955, corresponding to Chinese 9th lunar month and 13th day 1955, a very tragic event happened to the Chung family that brought much grief and sadness: the death of our grandmother Wong Sui Cheng.

Father Chung Chow recalled that she had been unwell for the past two years. She seemed to have recovered from her illness. But, on that fateful day, she became ill again and passed away peacefully in the evening of her 60th Chinese birthday. Father was very sad as he loved her very much. She was a very humble, gentle and loving woman and well-liked by all. When she died, not only her relatives and friends mourned her death but all her neighbours cried too.

I was seven years old then. I recalled that some men had removed the two huge wooden front doors of the house and placed them over two long benches in the hall to make a platform. They put a white cloth over it and laid our grandmother on top of it.

Then, they covered her with another white cloth. She laid there for the night. When her coffin arrived the next morning, she was placed in it. Her funeral was a grand affair and attended by many people from all walks of life.

Another event I still remember was when we were on our way to the Guangdung cemetery. The convoy of vehicles had stopped just before the Tupai bridge, popularly known as the 'white bridge'. We alighted from the vehicles and knelt by the roadside as the Taoist priests performed the rituals. Our father, being the eldest son of our departed grandmother, went down to the river bank to 'buy' and collect some water, and at the same time threw some coins into the river. I understood later that this ritual was to ensure that our grandmother's spirit would not be hindered by obstacles blocking her passage through the Diyu or under-world court, and that she would have water to quench her thirst during her journey.